Monday, July 13, 2009

Starting today: Mama's closed for lunch until the fall



Third Street at Avenue B.

Walking alongside the new Cooper Union building

Hey now. The sidewalks are open alongside the new Cooper Union building.




And I hope the security guard working at the CU is feeling better today.

I knew, but I didn't want to be the one to tell you and ruin your weekend



Meanwhile, on Friday, Paper checked in with a Superdive update, including:

Those who aren't quite as eager to work on their beer bellies can order a mixed drink (starting at $6) but, despite rumors, aren't welcome to DIY behind the bar, which on a recent night was cordoned off. Claiming that people misunderstood the mix-your-own concept, manager Keith Okada (the owners wish to remain anonymous) clarified that bartenders will make the drink in a shaker which you can then Tom-Cruise-in-Ray-Bans-style strain into a plastic cup.

ThirsTea opens today




On 10th Street just west of Avenue A. Previously.

Permanent Bruch starting to look a little more permanent

May:



Yesterday:


For the don't-mind-waiting-in-line set. More coverage on Eater and Grub Street.

Another T-shirt place for St. Mark's Place?



A fairly credible person tells me the former Village X shop at 36 St. Mark's Place will become another T-shirt shop. Anyone want to say "at least it's not a ramen place or froyo?"

Dumpster of the day



13th Street and Avenue B.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Manhattanhenge from 14th Street




What is this? Hat tip, Jill.

Following up on two previous posts



Last Thursday I reported that 167 Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street (the former NoTell Motel) will become the latest eatery from Jason Hennings and Robert Giraldi.

Hennings confirmed this to Eater. According to Eater: "Restaurateur Jason Hennings writes in today to report that the 167 Avenue A spot ... is indeed his, but his frequent partner Bob Giraldi is not involved. Hennings is bringing his deathwatched but still kicking West 10th venture Diablo Royale to Avenue A."

Also. In the Australian Homemade post from Wednesday, a reader shared the following information:

Actually the place closed when the landlord suddenly tried to raise the rent to a crazy high level. They could not afford to be there any more so they left. Now the store is empty and the landlord is getting nothing. Good business in a recession???

It was a combination of rent hike and tax increase as I am told. The landlord was passing on his city tax hikes to the store (as was probably in the lease) but the store could not pay it. They tried to negoitate a lower amount but the landlord would not budge.

Looking at Derek Jeter's cozy little waterfront shack





The New York Post has an article and slideshow on the new waterfront home Derek Jeter is having built in Tampa. The 31,000-square-foot space in the Davis Islands community "will boast seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, two three-car garages, an entertainment room, a billiard room and a memorabilia room."

Of course, there's controversy! Jeter also wants to construct a 6-foot fence around the property. Tampa ordinances limit the height of the fence to 3 feet. But Jeter wants permission for a 3-foot masonry structure topped by a 3-foot-high wrought-iron fence.

By the way, as the Post notes: "Jeter's house will be Tampa's biggest -- and twice the size of the Tampa home owned by the Boss, George Steinbrenner."

Today in TSP: Rev. Billy and BBQ



More info here.

And now, equal time for other mayoral candidates:

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Today's sign of the apocalypse: "Bandslam"

Oh, boy. Just caught this over at Idolator. It's "Bandslam," and stars Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka. It opens. Aug. 14.



As Idolator's Maura Johnson notes, "Maybe in 2049 we’ll see a teen flick that has a scene with kids running through the ruins of the John Varvatos store currently in that space… but probably not."

Meanwhile, I am hopeful for an epic comment from Alex.

Karaoke taking over Mondo Kim's space




We've all been curious what would take over this enormous space on St. Mark's between Third Avenue and Second Avenue since Jeremiah broke the news that Mondo Kim's was leaving...

The Michael Jackson Pub Crawl has started



Previously.

Reminder today in TSP



July 11, 2009 from 2-6 p.m.:
BLACKOUT SHOPPERS PRESENT

2 Iconicide
2:40 Skum City
3:20 Trauma Team
4 World War IX
4:40 Blackout Shoppers
5:20 Star Fucking Hipsters

More info. here. Thanks to the Shadow.

Oh, before and after the show, why not stop by Ray's?

Day 5




And oops. Somehow managed to miss Day 4. Previously.

Today is the first day that the New York Post hasn't had Michael Jackson on Page 1 since June 26

Because a $450 keg of Stella rolled over to your table is low-key and NOT over-the-top


The Times dips its toe into the Superdive pool today with a hefty piece on NYC's new, low-key nightlife mantra. The article begins at a new bar called Superdive. Shall we?

Superdive is pretty much nothing. And nothing is as hot as anything these days.

Superdive, which opened in late June, is a much blogged-about bar on Avenue A in the East Village that has deconstructed nearly every imaginable pillar of the over-the-top New York night life scene.

The bathrooms have plywood stalls, a scrawny doorman checks IDs but little else, and instead of bottle service, Superdive offers keg service — tableside.

“Since everything else is so chi-chi,” the manager, Keith Okada, said while pushing a plastic cup of beer toward a young woman at the bar last Monday night, “we thought, ‘Why not offer keg service?’ ”

At a table, a group of men in their 20s and 30s shared a 5-liter keg of EKU Pils beer to celebrate what they call “Manday,” a semiregular male-bonding night out.

Superdive suited them more than a noisy club with menacing velvet ropes and $400 bottles of vodka, said David Sitt, 32, a Manday regular and psychology professor at Baruch College.

“When you watch the Flintstones and they are at the Water Buffalo Lodge,” he said, referring to the homey clubhouse where Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble and pals partied, “they don’t have bottle service there.”

“We’re in a period where a snotty attitude is not helping people feel better about themselves,” he added.

Super fancy is out. Revenues are down 20 to 40 percent in the last year at those throbbing Manhattan nightclubs that flourished by catering to Wall Street guys who casually swiped their credit cards for four figures, club owners said. Many once-hopping clubs, like Lotus, Mansion and Room Service, have closed or are being remodeled.

At Marquee, the West Chelsea club and gossip-page fixture, revenues are down 22 percent so far this year compared with last, said Noah Tepperberg, one of the owners.

“Three or four years ago it seemed like every bar in New York had a rope and some imposing looking guy,” said David Rabin, an owner of Lotus and the president of the New York Nightlife Association.

Now, he said, haughtiness is as stylish as a balloon payment.

Club owners are searching for a new night-life formula, something that jibes with the culture’s low-key mood and yet shakes free whatever is left of the city’s disposable income.

Ideas differ, but the owners agree on one thing: the word “club” has about as much cultural relevance as the Macarena. And they go to lengths to avoid the word. Mr. Tepperberg, for instance, is calling Avenue, his newest endeavor that opened last month, a “gastro-lounge.”